Thursday, September 11, 2008

Bad News. I showed up for the Google ride via Skyline today and was promptly dropped. Not even on the climb from John Daly - on the little roller coming up from Lake Merced. I made it about 3/4 the way and my legs went to zero. We have some work to do. These guys are pretty tough so I don't feel that bad. One is a lean and hungry guy who rides to work and back - SF to San Mateo - every day. One is a young guy who "just got into cycling 6 months ago" - clearly that was a change of pace from doing 2:30 Marathons or something. And the other guy - EACH of his quads is wider than his waist and he goes only by the name "space" (no capital letter). Severe.

Worst News. I started up from John Daly, with the terrific threesome vaguely in sight, figuring they would probably wait at Hickey and I could probably get a ride that I could handle through the rollers to Palo Alto. Then I punctured. I laid the Seven down and realized I had not moved my tool bag with tube and patch kit to my new bike, and had to call for the team car. Someone did ride by with a patch, but knowing I could flat again, still without gear, in an even more remote area that would probably have zero cyclists, I hung my head in shame and called my wife to come get me...

Wednesday, September 3, 2008

Perhaps I am all talk. I have a pretty high batting average for the top stressors in life these days - we bought a Vacation Rental in Healdsburg which we had to set up and are now trying to manage ("Rural Realities" have hit hard). We then lost our apartment and had to move. Then I switched jobs. Oh, and my wife is pregnant. All good things (OK, moving sort of sucked) but stressful and not leaving a lot of time for riding.

Nonetheless I have probably managed to maintain some semblance of my early season form by getting up at o dark thirty and riding to work with the Google folks, and sneaking in a few Healdsburg area rides. Not the sort of hillclimbing that leads to faster times but keeps the base going. Also my wife spent her first trimester completely naseous so instead of us going out on brisk couples rides, we tried to keep her from getting sick. She's feeling better and is riding a bit, but now the issue is becoming the inability to lean over due to bulging belly and sore back. I'm trying to find a more upright hybrid we can use for a while, and a trainer.

I entered the Winters Road Race 2 weeks ago and found out that not only am I still off top form but my strategy sucks. There is a small hill, I decided to wait until the start and then go to the front and try to slow it down and then lag climb the hill. Thing is, the hill starts shallow enough that all I did was give a lead out to the strong men before they attacked at the steeper part. The hill has several saddles in it and had I sat in and not used my bullets I probably could have made it to more saddles and then maybe reconnected on the descent. Instead I was worked and got not much more than an entertaining training ride.

I am thinking of doing the Mt Tam Hill Climb just because it's nearby (if the aforementioned stressors don't render that impossible) but hopefully I will be able to get the training to tune things up a bit. The most important component should be diet, hopefully with the fresh produce coming from the garden/trees and us watching Jill's diet, I can make some headway there.